Thursday, July 23, 2015

Simple Mango Lassi #BookClubCookbookCC

I joined a new book club because it is hard for me to say no to anything book related......and it involved cooking. Match made in heaven I think!

Starting in July 2015, a group bloggers organized by Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla(click the link if you want to join the fun!) draw inspiration from a book and recipes published in The Book Club Cookbook. Each month, a blogger selected a book and The Book Club Cookbook offers several suggested recipes or the blogger can create a recipe inspired by the story. At the end of the month the host or hostess posts a round-up and gives away a copy of the book.

Here are a list of my fellow participating bloggers/hosts:

A Day in the Life on the Farm

Adventures in All Things Food

Cheese Curd In Paradise

Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Life on Food

Mostly Food and Crafts

The Pajama Chef

The Spiffy Cookie

Things I Make (for Dinner)

Tortillas and Honey

ZooeySuff

The book selected for July's host Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. The book is comprised of nine different short stories taking place in India and the United States. Many of the characters experience the pull between two very different cultures. Food is also a very prevalent theme in this book. While reading the novel I noticed that meals or culinary descriptions were often in settings and helped set the scene of that particular part of the story. I really enjoyed this book and like the structure of nine short stories. I felt that it made the various character stand out to me because each situation was very different.

I decided to make a traditional Indian yogurt drink, a Mango Lassi (it also happens to be one of my sister's favorite things). It is a recipe featured in the cookbook and my version is based on it. This drink has be come increasingly popular in America and differs a bit from it's traditional counterpart. In India, the drink is rarely sweetened and is salted. However, in the United States the drink is usually sweetened with a bit of honey. I opted to make a simple sweetened mango lassi.

I opted to use a very simple recipe for a mango lassi: milk, yogurt, mango and honey. So simple and so easy. Traditionally, recipes might require a bit of rose water, but I do not use it in my recipe. I made think drink for my family for an after dinner treat and they slurped it down like there was no tomorrow! Kellen asked me the following day if we could have mango yogurt for dinner with straws. This recipe is soooo easy and very simple to whip up for a sweet treat for the entire family with very little clean up (always important!).

Tune in next month to learn about our next book selection and to discover more delicious recipes from our blogging crew!

And to kick-off the event, Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla, this month's host, is giving away a copy of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish!

One of our lucky readers - US and Canada only! - can enter to win a copy ofThe Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authorsby Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, courtesy of Tarcher-Penguin.Giveaway runs from July 1st till July 31st at 6 o'clock PM, Pacific time. Please see terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget below. Many thanks to Tarcher Books. You may find Tarcher: on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Pinterest.

*Disclosure: Camilla received a complimentary copy ofThe Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp to use in this year-long project plus the opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.